Tobacco Documents Online

Rhode Island, page 4 RESOURCES Tobacco Segments The Rhode Island tobacco family is weak. There are few manufacturer sales representatives. The wholesaler community is dominated by one major wholesaler, as is the vending industry. Surprisingly, one of the most recently-organized groups, the New England Convenience Store Association, is among the more organized in the state and one of our best sources of legislative support. Like the rest of New England, the wholesalers who should provide us with the backbone of our legislative support program spend more time in internal conflict, posturing for the manufacturers, and taking "pot shots" at the Tobacco Institute than in legislative support. The 1985 split between the four top owners and managers of CGI Corporation resulted in the creation of a new and formidable wholesaling entity in the state. The bones of CGI have since joined with Garber Brothers in Massachusetts. The aborted creation of the New England Tobacco and Candy-Wholesalers Association in November in 1985 resulted in even greater conflict and animosity toward the Tobacco Institute in 1986. ' On numerous occasions, we have been able to organize the Rhode Island tobacco community for very brief periods of legislative activity. To date, a cohesive, coordinated, long-term effort has not been possible. We can, if necessary, draw the family together to oppose specific legislation, but we cannot keep them together following the success or failure of our efforts. Business Traditionally, the business community in labor-dominated Rhode Island has enjoyed second-class status. This is partially a result of the overwhelming dominance of the labor movement in the state and of disinterest on the part of the business community. The individual members of that community are prosperous, and prosperity tends to breed apathy. The realization that a Republican governor could be elected has resulted in a resurgence of conservative business activity in the state. Part of that has come from a new-found strength and the positioning of an advocate in the chief executive's office. Part of the growth is also a result of the declining fortunes of the traditional labor organizations in all of New England. A specific example of the growing strength of business and the waning fortunes of the labor movement came in 1985 with the repeal of the "Strikers Benefit Law." Business had attempted repeal on numerous occasions without a hint of success. In 1985, not only did labor/Democrats not oppose the repeal, but they actually involved themselves in the process. ( (

C ( c Rhode Island, page 5 As indicated above, the election and 1986 re-election of Governor DiPrete, his efforts to attract new business to the state, and the reduced influence of organized labor may indicate that business' star is rising in Rhode Island. The voters' rejection of Republican candidates at the polls, however, may result in a decline in power for business. Business support for tobacco is minimal. They view us as a problem they don't need. In fact, the only way we could get the business lobbyists to support us at the legislature was to keep the issue off their board of'directors' formal agendas. They would have supported a stronger law. , Labor An analysis of labor is essentially a flip side of the analysis of business. Organized labor suffers from the general prosperity of the region and the decline in traditional blue-collar employment. Labor also suffers from its members' primary concerns away from labor's rights and prerogatives and increased benefits to issues of on-the-job quality of the environment and other traditional white-collar concerns. The net effect has been a decline in their influence, as evidenced in the repeal of the "Striker Benefits Law" over the substantial opposition of the labor community. That opposition was so strong that it resulted in the resignation of AFL-CIO President Ed McElroy from the Democratic State Committee executive board. Unfortunately, it appears that there was no discernible consternation among the Democrats as a result of his leaving. The feeling of the party is that labor will be back. It has nowhere else to go. The only consistency between labor and business is on tobacco issues. Again, we had to keep the executive committee of the state AFL-CIO from voting on the workplace issue in order to gain their lobbyist's support. Fire Groups We have developed a good, ongoing relationship with Providence fire chief Michael Moise. That contact has been maintained, and it is likely that the chief will give us good support on legislative matters of mutual interest. On at least one occasion, we have approached him with information on smoking in the workplace, and he has been receptive. ANTI-TOBACCO FORCES The media may be our primary nemesis. The key anti-tobacco advocate may be a local newspaper, the Providence Journal. The almost-daily barrage of anti-tobacco news stories and--e-cTitorials that appears in the Journal influences the perception of the publi.c and the members ofthe legislature on the environmental tobacco smoke issue. The Journal is the property of U.S. Senator John Chafee's family. The senator's anti-tobacco sentiments are shared by his family and are reflected in the newspaper.

Rhode Island, page 6 In a more traditional manner, the industry faces the Rhode Island Coalition on Smoking OR Health, composed of a variety of individual medical practitioners and associations, including the heart association, lung association, cancer society, and the State Department of Public Health. Interestingly enough, all of these groups, including the Department, have full-time legislative-counsels who work with the legislature on a daily basis. These individuals and the Department continue to be our primary source of difficulty at the legislative level. They are not as well-organized as anti-tobacco groups in Connecticut, Massachusetts,. and Maine. However, the addition of a number of lobbyists, one of whom is also a state employee and ostensibly working for the Administration, helps make up for their lack of organization. • TOBACCO INDUSTRY Brief History Our legislative history in Rhode Island is somewhat checkered. In 1986, six of thirty anti-tobacco measures passed. One (H 7017) was a resolution commending the work of the.Department of Health for its anti-smoking efforts. The second (H 7479) was a resolution extending a study commission, a request routinely granted by the legislature. The third (H 8497) required tobacco education in the schools and was not opposed by the industry. S 2271, restricting smoking in the Senate chambers, was part of the year's rules package. H 7542 imposed a 1.6-cent tax increase but repealed the earmarking passed during the 1985 session. Finally, S 2643 required employers to have policies regarding smoking in ' the workplace. Included among the defeated bills was a tobacco product liability measure. The state currently has a restaurant restriction law and a law requiring the posting of signs at the front door of restaurants. Clearly, while enjoying a great deal of success at the legislative level, we are very vulnerable. Increasing anti-tobacco activities, combined with the inability of the tobacco family to work as a cohesive unit, suggests that more difficult times may be ahead in Rhode Island. Major Issues -- State and Local At the state level, our primary challenge will be to defeat all legislation resulting from the still-operating study commission. In all likelihood, some expansion of the workplace restriction will be considered. As a result of tax reform, we may see a move to increase the cigarette excise tax. In the early part of the session and again in the later stages, this is likely to become one of our toughest issues. C C e

( Rhode Island, page 7 Outlook In Rhode Island we are likely to suffer from the state's proximity to larger and more liberal neighbors to the north and west. The social pressures from Massachusetts and Connecticut -- combined with the anti-tobacco media, the high level of prosperity, the interest in a number of environmental concerns, the desire of the Democrats to regain the governor's seat with some old-time liberal posturing, and the activities of the State Department of Public Health -- are likely to create a volatile year for the tobacco industry. We are, therefore, vulnerable on some sort of expansion of the workplace legislation, youth-related issues like sampling and advertising, and increases in the cigarette excise tax. December 1986 C

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